BG1 Friends: A Companion Viewer
Grinkles
Member Posts: 10
I recently put together a simple Windows program that displays (most) relevant info for each recruitable NPC. This includes ability scores, what those scores mean in terms of bonuses or penalties, race information, "fatal conflicts" with other recruitables, and so on. I call it BG1 Friends.
The info presented by BG1 Friends is, of course, viewable on the Baldur's Gate Wiki and elsewhere, but I find it highly convenient to be able to view each character in the exact same format, as opposed to navigating numerous wiki articles that require lots of scrolling, have varying degrees of thoroughness, and so on. BG1 Friends also provides players with an offline option for party planning when the internet is unavailable.
As BG1 Friends is my first "real" program, it isn't very pretty, and it does have some shortcomings. For example, some types of abilities or bonuses are not currently accounted for (e.g., Ajantis getting a +2 bonus to all saving throws for being a Paladin). There may also be some instances of incorrect info, particularly with regard to fatal conflicts; I'll be happy to fix such cases if they're brought to my attention. The biggest oversight on my part is that all info is hardcoded when I really should have pulled everything from data tables, but BG1 character info is just small enough that I don't mind the extra hassle this creates when it comes to any potential future updates.
Here are two sample screenshots:
If you're interested in downloading BG1 Friends to try it yourself, here's a link to it on my Google Drive: Let me know if you have any feedback or if you see this program actually coming in useful for your BG1 adventures!
The info presented by BG1 Friends is, of course, viewable on the Baldur's Gate Wiki and elsewhere, but I find it highly convenient to be able to view each character in the exact same format, as opposed to navigating numerous wiki articles that require lots of scrolling, have varying degrees of thoroughness, and so on. BG1 Friends also provides players with an offline option for party planning when the internet is unavailable.
As BG1 Friends is my first "real" program, it isn't very pretty, and it does have some shortcomings. For example, some types of abilities or bonuses are not currently accounted for (e.g., Ajantis getting a +2 bonus to all saving throws for being a Paladin). There may also be some instances of incorrect info, particularly with regard to fatal conflicts; I'll be happy to fix such cases if they're brought to my attention. The biggest oversight on my part is that all info is hardcoded when I really should have pulled everything from data tables, but BG1 character info is just small enough that I don't mind the extra hassle this creates when it comes to any potential future updates.
Here are two sample screenshots:
If you're interested in downloading BG1 Friends to try it yourself, here's a link to it on my Google Drive: Let me know if you have any feedback or if you see this program actually coming in useful for your BG1 adventures!
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